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It’s that time of the year again. That time of the year when it’s about to end and we reflect on how we spent the last twelve months. Many of us begin to consider the things that we want to change and achieve, so we can add them to a fresh list of new year’s resolutions.
Creating a new year’s resolution has become its own annual tradition, regardless of the success rate we’ve had throughout the years. And if you feel ashamed that 2022 wasn’t the year you became a marathon runner or the year you finally quit smoking, you’re not alone. Surveys show that only about 9% of Americans are able to stick to their new year’s resolutions. The rest of the 41% who actually make one fail to follow through. People usually break their promise on the 32nd day, literally on the first day of the second month of the year.
With numbers this discouraging, why do we even keep making a new year’s resolution? Well, it’s simple. Humans get off on setting goals. The brain releases dopamine, the so-called happy hormone, when we set our sights on something we want to achieve. That and our love of fresh starts make a new year’s resolution almost intuitive.
The first of January gives us the freshest start we can get. It’s what psychologists call a temporal landmark, a certain point in time that creates a sense of renewal. The new year is that cyclical point where we feel it makes the most sense to change and leave all undesirable behaviors behind us. It’s either we want to start doing more of something or less of something. We want to become better people by making behavioral changes.
How to Make Your New Year’s Resolution Stick, According to Psychology
A new year’s resolution helps us turn that thing we want to happen into more intentional goals and actions.
Typically, those behavioral changes concern our physical health. In fact, the top three new year’s resolutions of 2022 were to exercise more, eat healthier, and lose weight respectively. Other people also vowed to improve their relationships, be more financially responsible, and cut down on social media usage.
These are all very aspirational promises, which makes it unfortunate that the majority of the people who create these goals are unable to achieve them. But a new year’s resolution shouldn’t be impossible to maintain after the initial excitement dies down — and psychology can help you achieve it.
Stop Making Vague Goals and Write SMART Ones
If you’ve spent any time reading business-related articles on productivity, you may have already discovered the concept of SMART goals. It’s an acronym for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely goals. While it’s typically used as a framework for business goal-setting, writing down SMART goals can also benefit your new year’s resolution.
Let’s say you vow to be healthier next year. There are many ways to make it more specific and measurable. For example, you want to be physically fitter. That can still mean different things to different people, so it might be better to say ‘I want to run a sub-5:00 hour marathon’ or ‘I want to gain 5 kilos of muscle’ as your new year’s resolution.
When you have more specific goals, they become more actionable and time-bound. Instead of saying you want to read more this year, set a numerical goal to achieve. By committing to logging in 25 books on your Goodreads account, you can create a timeframe of, say, one book every two weeks. It’s a much more achievable pace than cramming in 25 books at the end of the year when you realize you’ve put off achieving your new year’s resolution.
Plus, it’s easier to determine if you’re actually succeeding at a goal when you quantify it. Breaking down a big goal into smaller chunks makes it more realistic, too. Achieving lots of mini goals to get to the big one gives you waves of happy hormones. That feeling of getting something done may just keep you motivated to stay on top of your new year’s resolution.
Reframe the Way You Track Progress
The biggest mistake you can make when tracking progress is to look at how much more work you have to do. The work — and, ultimately, the goal you’re working toward — becomes too daunting. And before you know it, it’s December again and you’re still making the same new year’s resolution year after year.
What might help you stay motivated is to look back instead of always looking ahead. Acknowledge the work that you have already put into your new year’s resolution, even if that progress doesn’t seem too monumental at times. If you run one mile today when your goal is to run a marathon, pat yourself on the back for running longer than you did last year.
When tracking your progress, researchers found keeping physical records to be effective in achieving a specific goal. Write down every accomplishment and setback to gain a better view of how close or far you are to achieving your new year’s resolution. Make use of the hundreds of apps available for tracking different activities, like Strava for your workouts, Mint for your expenses, or MyFitnessPal for your daily caloric intake.
Know When to Rely on the Fresh Start Effect
Like any temporal landmark, the first day of the year provides what researchers call the fresh start effect. It’s that tendency you get to work towards a specific goal right after the passage of a temporal landmark. Like when you’re highly motivated to study at the beginning of a new semester, or when you set a financial goal on the first day of every month.
The fresh start effect peaks on January 1 and could explain why you want to make a new year’s resolution to begin with. A study suggests that temporal landmarks create, in a way, a sense that you’re two different people — one who hasn’t achieved a new year’s resolution and one who is capable of doing so at a future date. This specific point in time is when you feel the most motivated to act on your objective and leave that less aspirational person behind. The new year just offers us this feeling of wanting to change for the better.
However, studies also found that the fresh start effect is not ideal for everyone with a new year’s resolution. It depends on the resolution itself and whether or not starting fresh, which for some means going back to square one, is equivalent to regression. Think of it as restarting a fitness training program when you’re already making good progress. Sometimes, a fresh start isn’t necessary because it could result in lost gains. Use this significant temporal landmark instead to renew your commitment to your new year’s resolution.
Build a Support System
A new year’s resolution is personal but it could be advantageous to share it with people you respect. According to psychology researchers, announcing your goals gives you a higher chance of succeeding at them.
Perhaps it’s due to the pressure of a new year’s resolution becoming real once you put it out there. You now have this extrinsic motivation — the fear of judgment for not following through on your promise. Even though it’s not the ideal kind of motivation, the outside push can be effective for some people. It may just be enough to prompt more desirable behaviors that stick.
Sharing your new year’s resolution with people you trust can also create an environment more conducive to your goal. If your friends and co-workers aren’t aware that you’re trying to cut back on alcohol, they might peer pressure you into drinking instead of supporting your decision. By letting people know about your new year’s resolution, they can expect and even support changes in your routines and behaviors.
Find Your Intrinsic Motivation, Not Your Extrinsic Motivation
Extrinsic motivation, such as the fear of being judged, can be effective but intrinsic motivation is more important in achieving goals. These are the motivations we have of doing something because we genuinely enjoy doing it. By nature, intrinsic motivation doesn’t rely on outside factors and can help enforce behaviors for the long term. Even if we overcome that fear of being judged or we don’t have a competition to train for, we keep doing an activity because we love it.
For instance, instead of wanting to lose weight so we might look good in photos, choose the path to health because you want to live a longer and happier life. Try sports that you actually enjoy doing rather than punishing physical activities that you think will give you the most rewards (read: weight loss). The fitness you gain could just be a bonus for discovering a new hobby.
Ideally, the activity or the behavioral change is rewarding in itself. Perhaps you’re experiencing something new, improving your mastery, or simply having a good time. It’s important to frame your new year’s resolution in a way that actually benefits you in the long run and make sure that it aligns with your values. It doesn’t have to be a punishment for your past self. Your future self will thank you for it.
